The hard truth for Marion Jones is a 6-month term

White Plains, N.Y.

Olympian Marion Jones was sentenced to six months in prison Friday, and her one-time trainer and former Norfolk State University track coach, Steve Riddick, was sentenced to five years and three months in federal prison for his role in a check-kiting scheme.

Riddick, 56, a gold medal winner in the 1976 Olympics, declined to comment after the federal court sentencing, other than to say: "It is what it is."

His lawyer said he plans to appeal the jury verdict from May and the sentence.

Riddick's sentencing came several hours after his one-time star pupil - Jones - received a six-month prison term for lying to federal authorities about her role in the check scheme and about her use of steroids.

Riddick remains free on bond until he reports to prison on April 11, while Jones was allowed to report to prison by Feb. 11.

U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Karas said he tried to fashion punishments for all of the defendants in the counterfeit check case - there are about 20 - to reflect the level of their involvement.

Jones played a relatively small role in the ring, while Riddick was more active, having deposited about $1 million in fake checks. In one instance, he deposited a $375,000 fake check and kept about $170,000 for himself while funneling the rest back to ring leaders in New York.

In all, more than $5 million in counterfeit checks were deposited, but the defendants were able to retrieve only a fraction of the funds before banks discovered the conspiracy.

Riddick could have faced more than eight years in prison, based on federal sentencing rules, but the judge granted him some leniency based on the positive things he has done for the sport of track and field. But the judge noted that Riddick has a prior felony conviction stemming from a forgery case while he was at Norfolk State.

Riddick's attorney, Bryan Hoss, said Riddick currently is training five runners and that at least one has Olympic potential. Riddick hopes to return to coaching when he gets out of prison, Hoss said.

Riddick defended himself at trial by trying to show that he thought the checks were coming from Kuwaiti nationals as payment to train sprinters from that country. Karas on Friday noted that the explanation was "just flat-out not true."

Karas on Friday also sentenced Portsmouth businessman Nathaniel Alexander to just under four years in prison for his role in the scheme. Alexander, a former friend of Riddick's, was found guilty of depositing nearly $1 million on bogus checks, but he received no money in return.

Earlier Friday, Jones, a champion sprinter in the 2000 Olympics who was stripped of her medals after admitting steroid use, was the center of media attention at the White Plains federal courthouse just north of New York City.

Karas' courtroom was filled to capacity with journalists from around the world and, additionally, the proceeding was televised on closed-circuit to an overflow room inside the courthouse. By the time Riddick was sentenced later in the day, only three reporters remained.

Jones, who married last year and now goes by Marion Jones-Thompson, received a relatively light punishment because federal sentencing guidelines called for a range from probation to six months in prison on each of two counts to which she pleaded guilty.

Her lawyers tried to spare Jones any prison time. They noted to the judge that she still is breast-feeding her youngest son.

"Our society will be ill-served if she is taken from her children," one of her lawyers, F. Hill Allen of Raleigh, N.C., told the judge.

But Karas seemed stuck on Jones' reasons for committing the crimes.

"Why do it?" he asked Jones' lawyers.

"We offer no excuses, no justification, no rationalization for that conduct," Allen said. "She was weak."

Jones previously admitted she lied about her involvement in the check scheme as well as taking performance-enhancing drugs, including a powerful steroid known as "the clear," for about a year before her glorious run at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, where she won three gold medals and two bronze in track and field events.

In the check-kiting case, Jones lied to federal agents about receiving a $25,000 check in 2005 from her then-boyfriend and fellow track star Tim Montgomery. That check was part of the proceeds from a $200,000 counterfeit check that Montgomery tried to launder through Alexander.

Jones apologized to the court, her family and her fans and tearfully pleaded with the judge to spare her prison time for the sake of her two young sons. "I pray that you be as merciful as a human being can be," she told the judge.

Karas also ordered Jones to perform 800 hours of community service, specifically educating young athletes about the dangers of using performance-enhancing drugs.

Not sending Jones to prison, Karas said, "sends all the wrong messages to those who follow an athlete's every move."

Montgomery pleaded guilty in the case last year and is scheduled to be sentenced in April.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com